Field of Honor returns to Dennis for Veterans Day

By Susan Vaughn

Friday

Nov 10, 2017 at 10:50 AMNov 10, 2017 at 10:50 AM

Many Americans have been watching Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “The Vietnam War,” perhaps recalling how they watched it live on the nightly news 50 years ago. But for Ken Archambault it was more than a vicarious experience. He was reliving his tour of duty in Vietnam in 1967-78 flying medical evacuation helicopters for the 1st Cavalry Army. He was 20 years old.

It was also the time of the Tet Offensive, one of the longest and most brutal sieges by the North Vietnamese that started on the Vietnamese New Year, Jan. 31, 1968, and continued for several months. As a member of the Army 1st Cavalry, Archambault was flying in and out of the battle zones to pick up the wounded and the dead in the middle of the firefights.

Archambault and Brian Hawkesworth, who was also serving in Vietnam with the 1st Marine Air Wing about the same time, recalled some of their Vietnam experiences and life after the war as they helped prepare for the fifth annual Field of Honor in Dennis on Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 10-12. The Field of Honor at Johnny Kelley Park will be a display of about 300 flags, each one honoring someone’s hero and it doesn’t have to be a military person, Hawksworth said. He is senior vice commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 96 and Baker-Xiarhos AMVETS Post 333, both volunteer positions. The AMVETS post sponsors the Field of Honor.

Archambault of Brewster went to Hawkesworth four years ago after he retired to ask about veterans’ benefits for a back problem. Hawkesworth led him to the Hyannis Veterans Affairs outreach center where he was asked about his mental health and was told he had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which he didn’t realize he had after 45 years of living with it.

“My wife thought I was crazy (all those years),” Archambault said, so he began receiving counseling at the county based outpatient clinic in Hyannis and continues to go. “It’s changed my life,” he said, thanking the VA and Hawkesworth.

Archambault, 71, grew up in Andover and enrolled in the University of Lowell engineering program, but said he was overwhelmed and dropped out when a cousin told him about an Army flight program. He passed the test easily and flew for the first time to basic training, then flight school, helicopter training and Army medical training, and then was sent directly to Vietnam. He was above the average age of 18 for those serving in Vietnam during those draft years.

“At 20 years old, I was fearless,” Archambault said. “My job was to rescue the wounded.” He was the pilot of the helicopters with a crew chief, a door gunner and a medic. They had machine guns, which he said they all used. He told of how they often had to fly right into firefights to do the rescues in five to 10 minutes.

“We had bounties on our heads. It was a morale builder for the Viet Cong,” he said of the Viet Cong’s number one goal to shoot down a helicopter crew. “Our life expectancy was minutes.”

Archambault’s helicopter was shot down twice in the same day. He remembers that date well: May 4, 1968, in Quang Tri Province. No one was injured and they were not yet in flight, so they came back within an hour in another helicopter as there were more than 400 available at his base Camp Evans. They came to get the medic and the wounded they had left behind, but when shot down again, they were told to pull back and they got the rest of the day off, he said, and another copter took over.

The Tet Offensive, however, went on for weeks and months as the Viet Cong sent thousands of troops to liberate South Vietnam and kick out the United States. It started with a great New Year’s celebration in North Vietnam.

Archambault received the Distinguished Flying Cross for one of his more than 200 rescues during his year in Vietnam. “It’s hard to remember each one,” he said. “I can’t remember names or faces after 50 years. You put it out of your mind, but you have a lot of sleepless nights. That’s from PTSD.”

Despite that trauma, Archambault served on active duty as a helicopter pilot with the 26th Infantry Division National Guard for four years until 1970 as an instructor pilot and spent another 18 years in the Guard. He and his wife came to the Cape after his active duty because it seemed like a quiet place, he said. He received training as a carpenter that was subsidized by Veterans Affairs, first worked for the town of Brewster, then started his own building business, Brewster Deck Co.

Hawkesworth said it was not uncommon for a Vietnam veteran to wait for 45 years to seek help. “People who left the war never really left it,” he said. Archambault added, “The human brain is not wired to see that human carnage at 20 years old.” He said he goes to the VA’s Combat Center in Hyannis set up for hard cases like his where he can talk to someone who also went through what he did.

Many Vietnam veterans have suffered from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, PTSD, brain injuries and many other Agent Orange related diseases, which were not being full recognized or addressed until about 10 years ago, Archambault said. Of the 2.8 million servicemen from Vietnam, 880,000 are alive today and are in their 60s and 70s. Now the veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars are able to get the help earlier.

Hawkesworth also has had his share of post-traumatic symptoms, which have disrupted his life and relationships. He still has severe panic attacks, but has received help from the veterans’ organizations and said, “Now I’m on the good side.”

Hawkesworth said that most Vietnam veterans would say “yes” is asked to do it again. “We thought by spreading democracy, it would be better. We believed that,” he said.

Archambault also said his service was “not a waste,” as the things that happened afterward, such as meeting his wife and having a family were positive outcomes for him. Both men said that watching “The Vietnam War” series provided them a political perspective on the war that they didn’t have while in the middle of it.

Both also talked about the emotional experience the Field of Honor is for them and others who come to see the flag of the person they have honored. “When they walk up to the flag, there’s a connection there,” Hawkesworth said. “When they touch the flag, it’s like touching them,” Archambault added.

Some of the personal heroes honored include current and past military service members, first responders, police, firefighters, hometown heroes such as parents, teachers and others, 9/11 victims, and victims of child abuse or drunk driving accidents.

The Field of Honor is a community event, starting with students from the Lighthouse Charter School helping to assemble the flags on Thursday before the three days of public viewing, a dedication ceremony and a raffle for a mahogany replica of a Cobra Fun Ship helicopter, both at noon on Sunday. The field will be lighted at night also.

The major beneficiaries are Operation Delta Dog that provides service dogs for veterans, Emerald Hollow Therapeutic Riding Center, an equestrian therapy program for veterans and the placing of flag on the 60,000 graves at Bourne National Cemetery. Hawkesworth said Field of Honor is made available to other veterans and “to help citizens understand what the greatest generation did so they could have freedom.”

The proceeds this year also will help former Barnstable High School scholar-athlete Margaret Cobb in her participation in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., which occurred on Oct. 22.

Field of Honor

The Field of Honor, sponsored by AMVETS Post 333, will be open for public viewing day and night from Nov. 10-12 at Johnny Kelley Park, Bob Crowell and Old Bass River roads. To sponsor a flag at $35 each, call 774-352-1133 for a sponsorship form or go online to order at www.healingfield.org/dennis17.